We are committed to the idea that people in our community should be able to participate in resisting this bigotry in whatever capacity they find appropriate. For this reason, we have chosen to make the primary focus of the event a rally at a separate location that is adjacent to the Alt Right rally.
We are unapologetic about the reality that fighting fascism at points requires physical militancy.
…we are not opposed to the tactic of property destruction…
You know how liberals are going to solve the Republican problem? … They are going to get better aim. That last guy tried, but he needed better aim. We will get better aim.
It is impossible to address the problem of rampant crime without talking about the moral responsibility of the intended victim. Crime is rampant because the law-abiding, each of us, condone it, excuse it, permit it, submit to it. We permit and encourage it because we do not fight back, immediately, then and there, where it happens. Crime is not rampant because we do not have enough prisons, because judges and prosecutors are too soft, because the police are hamstrung with absurd technicalities. The defect is there, in our character. We are a nation of cowards and shirkers.
In your country, people who criticize the government can be arrested and sent to “re-education” camps. But over here, if government agents started trying to do stuff like that, they’d likely get blown full of holes by pissed off Americans with guns.
So our guns protect our freedom of speech.
I can criticize my government if I want to. I can say “Donald Trump is a corrupt pompous ass and his cabinet is full of lickspittles and toadies.”
Or I can criticize the Chinese government if I want to. I can say, “Xi Jinping heads an evil government that oppresses the rights of Chinese citizens while the Party lackeys grow rich from corruption.”
Now you try. Go on, post something critical about the Chinese government.
Sir Launcelot July 1, 2017 Tomb Raider forum post in the The mass shootings and gun control debate thread [I have nothing to add.—Joe]
A friend is putting on an Independence Day rifle match at his place in Latah County, Idaho;
Five shots from each of four positions (standing, kneeling, sitting, and prone), 4 black bull’s eyes (one for each position) each being 4 M.O.A. in angular size at 25 meters. That’s a target size of about 1.1″. You have a total of ten minutes to get into your various positions and make your 20 shots.
“Four M.O.A.”, you think, “I can hit that all day”, right? We hit one M.O.A. targets at Boomershoot, at distances such that the shifting wind is a major factor, so 4 M.O.A. is a piece of cake, right?
Uh uh. Using a light, but quality AR carbine in 5.56 mm, the best I’ve done so far in practice is 8 hits out of 20 shots. I’m not using a shooting sling, as that’s something I’ve never worked out. Other than your body and possibly a sling, there is no support allowed.
Any rifle in any caliber, centerfire or rimfire.
I noticed right away that the sight heights on my ARs (I use optics) are such that I needed to re-zero for 25 meters (about 27.5 yards).
Try it and report back.
I would love to see a match like this done in the form of a mountain woods walk, so you have the added issues of the portability of your equipment, your physical condition, your ability to shoot under some degree of physical stress (such as aiming while winded) and using improvised shooting positions due to terrain and flora. Too often we tend to want a “shooting range” set up all nice and ideal and level and comfortable, and in that case we are sometimes missing the point. Anyone who’s hunted for more than a few seasons will understand, and in fact hunting includes all of the above (plus the unpredictable nature of the target(s), doesn’t it?
The Czech parliament is working to liberalize the country’s gun laws, allowing people to better defend themselves. The reason for this new policy is safety, as well as practicality; in light of recent attacks in neighboring countries, the Czech government recognizes that disarming people puts them in danger, and that broad European gun control policies are ineffective. The Interior Minister said it best when he asked parliament to “show [him] a single terrorist attack in Europe perpetrated using a legally-owned weapon”.
In response to terrorist attacks the EU is making it more difficult to get guns and the Czech Republic is making it easier. My hypothesis is that the Czech Republic will have few terrorist attacks and those places with increased restrictions on guns will have more attacks. I also expect those places with more restrictions will blame the increase in attacks using firearms on the Czech Republic just as Chicago blames their problems on places nearby with less repressive gun laws even though those places have less criminal violence than Chicago.
Constitutionally, speech is speech, and inquiring into the motives of the speaker is a legal absurdity. And speech is protected, period.
The root cause of course is that progressives hate free speech in all its forms, and invented the fake category of “hate speech” for the same reason they invented the fake category of “assault weapon”.
Contrast between freedom-hating decrepit Western Europe and Eastern Europe is glaring. Eastern Europe still has vivid memories from what’s down the statist road.
This should be a warning to US gun owners. You’ve scored major victories through hard work, but freedom haters will always come back. Defend the culture (take non gun owners to the range, esp. in restrictive states) so that gun ownership becomes and stays mainstream.
Calimero December 28, 2016 Comment to Courage [Calimero lives in France.
There’s a strong divide, shown in today’s vote at the EU Parliament, between Western Europe and Eastern Europe.
Eastern Europe still has vivid memories from Soviet rule, while Western Europe is oblivious to (or downright embraces) the shift to leftism/statism. One may argue Western Europe never was all that much into individual rights.
Eastern Euros still have that yearning for freedom. And the West essentially fucked them over today.
I hope the Czech will be able to mitigate the effects of the updated EU firearms directive. Poland, Hungary aren’t really all that hot for gun control either.
France, UK, Germany, Holland all screwed the pooch.
Take a new shooter to the range. It’s a good first step down a slippery slope to a desire for individual freedom in general.—Joe]
I am in the process of renewing my ATF license to manufacture high explosives. For some reason I can’t find anywhere in the U.S. Constitution where the Federal government has been granted the power to regulate the manufacture and consumption of explosives entirely on my property, entirely within the state of Idaho.
So, in keeping with the current “resist” political theme of the last few months, I’m bravely sending the renewal form to the ATF with a “Freedom Forever” stamp.
I suspect no one at the ATF will perceive the irony and my resistance will be futile.
The ritual is tribal. A lefty dons the mock wig of the hated enemy and is ritually humiliated for the entertainment of the tribes of Manhattan, Berkeley and Marin County. The foe is destroyed in effigy. The video of his destruction is virally spread with titles such as, “Saturday Night Live Destroys Trump”.
And yet Trump, like all the other viral subjects of destruction, is never destroyed. The tribal ritual lets lefties vent their anger on a totem that, unlike Trump, can actually be destroyed by liberal laughter.
Satire isn’t trying to save the Republic. It isn’t stopping Trump. It’s saving the left.
Now, the next eight times some right-wing nut goes on a shooting spree, they’ll have “but James Hodgkinson!” at the ready.
So be it. I abhor this shooting, and I abhor all such shootings. And while I would agree that it was a damn good thing that the police were there, I would not agree that that just proves that more people should have guns so that more Hodgkinsons can be stopped before inflicting the maximum damage. Teachers and regular citizens aren’t cops. They don’t do repeated drills on taking down perps, and they shouldn’t.
Michael Tomasky
June 15, 2017 One Left-Wing Gunman Doesn’t Make a Movement
[I found it very telling that he went through a long list of political assassinations. He correctly labeled almost all the assassins as left-wing. He exempts John Wilkes Booth from the left-wing label even though he almost for certain was a Democrat and murdered a Republican. Not one of the assassins listed is “right-wing”, and I can’t think of any of the many mass shooters in our country one could call “right-wing”. In fact they almost all clearly identify as Democrat with some being apolitical.
Tomasky then predicts something about “the next eight times some right-wing nut goes on a shooting spree”… Well, if past performance is an indicator of future results then there will be about 500 left-wing mass shooters before we get eight right-wing shooters. And this doesn’t even get into the leftist governments who were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people in the 20th century.
So, why does he claim we shouldn’t be doing this? The only reason I can think of is that he wants us to feel, and be, defenseless against both the left-wing individuals and the left-wing governments.
At one level it amuses me to see someone relate a large body of substantially correct data and then have that person arrive at a conclusion completely at odds with their own data. But on another level it’s a very sad commentary on the irrationality of the ordinary human.—Joe]
A law found to discriminate based on viewpoint is an “egregious form of content discrimination,” which is “presumptively unconstitutional.” … A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all. The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government’s benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society.
This should give gun owners protection against having their Second Amendment rights infringed upon because they belong to some extremist group such as the NRA or the Republican party.—Joe]
Howard Dully is a son, father, husband, and author. He’s also a lobotomy survivor.
In 1960, Howard was 12 years young when his stepmother sought a transorbital (“ice-pick”) lobotomy for him. The reason? He was a difficult daydreamer who couldn’t sit still.
I first heard Howard’s story via radio broadcast in 2005. It broke my heart, and opened my eyes. Listen to the recording here.
Image courtesy: Howard Dully/George Washington University Gelman Library
Howard Dully didn’t have to come out of the lobotomy closet. In sharing his experience with the world, he bravely faced his uninvited demons, opened doors for other survivors, while closing the door on a dark chapter of his life. Photos from his childhood medical records speak a thousand words. And then some.
In 2006, when I was the conference organizer for the Eris Society, I invited Howard to speak. He accepted.
Howard’s presentation was so moving, someone from the crowd passed out. As the audience member was wheeled out of the room, Howard held his head high, and resumed his speech.
Howard Dully, the Gentle Giant. Photo courtesy: GoFundMe.com
Howard has every reason to be ferocious, vicious, and hateful towards the world. Instead, he chose to become a warm, personable, kind Gentle Giant.
Recently I found out that Howard is having some health challenges, and needs help with medical expenses.
A slice of this blog’s readership consists of freedomnistas, anarcho-capitalists, libertarians, and the like – folks who espouse that free markets, charity, and private enterprise will help lift those in demise.
I’m asking you to please put your money where your mouth is. Donate here, now. Then spread the word.
Chin up, Howard. We’re rooting for you. The world’s a better place with you in it.
Update: Kit O’ Connell has publicly corrected his error. Thanks, Kit! (Scroll to bottom of this post to view his acknowledgement.)
———————————————-
Dear Kit O’Connell,
You were wrong when you posted a photo to Twitter, declaring, “Oathkeeper with his hand on the trigger of his assault rifle, defending literal nazis”. Here’s your tweet regarding last weekend’s anti-Sharia law rally in Austin:
1. Correct yourself. Oath Keeper has his finger straightened alongside the frame of his gun. His hand is not on the trigger. Nor is his finger. It’s physically impossible for Oath Keeper to get his hand (five fingers) on the trigger. That’d be like fisting a trigger. There’s simply not enough space. Learn the basics of gun safety.
2. Recognize that Oath Keeper Jay Stang is defending free speech, peacefully monitoring the protestors. In a any crowd, it’s nearly impossible to decipher each person’s specific viewpoint. However, when your group raises a hammer & sickle flag, there’s no doubt: you’re sick enough to hammer into our heads that you stand for land-grabs and death camps for dissenters.
Though Mr. Stang disagreed with your perspective, he peacefully defended your right to free speech, even though during an interview, you repeatedly screamed, “F*ck you!”
3. Answer this question: “What’s a literal Nazi?” Just curious. Literally, I’m curious.
4. Assess your contradiction of defending the 1st Amendment, but not the 2nd Amendment.You state you’re “openly biased toward human rights and equality.” Your writings reflects otherwise. Guns are the great equalizer. Sort it out.
5. You’ve declared yourself to be a hands-on gonzo journalist. So do it. Get yourself to the gun range to face your irrational fear of firearms. Even if you don’t aspire to own a gun, at least learn gun safety basics, so you know what you’re talking about, when you write about guns.
You say you’re “proudly disabled, polyamorous and queer”. Yawn, snooze, snore. As you’re well-aware, those three self-declared factor categories make you an easy target for gimp bashing or gay bashing. Checkout the Pink Pistols. Their motto: Armed gays don’t get bashed.
Be pro-active. Refuse to be a victim. Learn self-defense. Stop whining. Go to seminars held by Black Guns Matter or Operation Blazing Sword; OBS’s basic mission: We teach LGBTQ how to shoot.
You might think gun owners/instructors are Nazi redneck racist gun nuts, but after training with OBS or BGM, your stereotypes will be quickly shattered. These gun teachers understand the value of human life — all lives — and the importance of self-defense.
Your website reveals you’re for hire. That means you need work, and are likely living on a meager budget. Great news! OBS & BGM don’t charge for their valuable services.
6. Chill out. You’re on the verge of violence, as evidenced by your tweet:
Kit, do you really want to bash someone just because they’re not a Communist?
Whatever the case, you’re unstable. The world doesn’t need another mass shooting from the political left. Given your agitated state, I doubt a gun instructor would let you hold a gun in your hand, even if your finger is off the trigger. Don’t let that deter you. You’ll still gain valuable to knowledge if you learn gun safety. It’ll help reduce your fear of guns, so you’re not triggered when someone’s openly carrying.
7. Wear some yellow-tinted gun safety glasses. It’ll go well with your crushed velvet jacket, and blue Antifa neckerchief.
Image credit: Jane Michael Stallings
Hunter S. Thompson, Father of Gonzo Journalism. Image credit: Sunglasses ID
Kit, good luck. I look forward to reading about your gun range experience, and how you connect with Operation Blazing Sword, Black Guns Matter, and Pink Pistols.
Readers: Peaceful people we are, let’s meet Kit’s madness with gladness. He’s a ticking time bomb, ready to explode. Let’s dismantle this time bomb, before another Communist goes on a killing spree.
[A]bout the nominee for the Secretary of the Army, Mark Green. All I need to know is that he believes an armed citizenry is a check and balance on the government, and that therefore citizens should be allowed to own anything the military has, including ships of war.
Once people start taking responsibility for their own safety, they begin to move away from the progressive lie. Even if they still hold such beliefs, they will find themselves labeled as heretics because personal responsibility is anathema to progressivism.
The good news is that those of us who value autonomy and liberty will welcome them in with open arms.
The left remains convinced that it can create through destruction, that it can build a fair society through theft, an ethical society by destroying its values and a high-minded society through contempt.
It must believe in the redemptive power of its thievery, amorality and hatred. Or face a moral reckoning.
Seduced by the lure of power, drunk on visions from “higher” dimensions, visions that tell them the violence they do is just, both coalitions have betrayed this chance at peace. Neither coalition will ever persuade the other to see things its way. There will never be a pan-American consensus. There will never be a universal vision of the common good. And because the “reasons” that justify each vision come from “higher” realms that are invisible to the uninitiated, reason will be impotent to bring these coalitions closer together.
And when men and women cannot deal with one another with reason, they will deal with one another by force.
Centuries upon centuries of Islamist aggression and murder, and it’s the internet’s fault. Your freedom, and mine, is to blame.
One report claimed some fifty shots were fired by police to stop three Muslims armed with knives. I could understand that number of shots if they’d been taking return fire, but against knife wielding punks it seems like an awful lot of shooting.
At least one person was wounded by police gunfire. When that happens (and it sometimes will) and it’s a police bullet, it is a footnote. If a regular concealed carry holder in America were to do the exact same thing, never mind that lives were saved; the howls of accusation would last for weeks.
Practice on moving targets. Aerial clay targets are good, if you can find a place to do it safely;
With only a knife, it is relatively easy to murder innocent, unsuspecting people, in a country that talks about freedom and rights but has forcibly disarmed its citizens and practically turned self defense into a crime.
The Brits have invited this upon themselves with their idiotic policies and their embrace of Progressivism, and we in America are not far behind. They’ll ramp up their police state, clamp down on the internet (control of which has been coveted by authoritarians since its inception) spend more of their tax payers’ wealth, and accomplish next to nothing.
Once again, as always it seems, at least one of the perpetrators was known to the British security network. The result of that knowledge was that they were able to say, after the fact, that they’d been watching that person.
The only way jihad will ever stop is if they’re all convinced that it is utterly hopeless, or foolish, or morally wrong, to continue. There are several ways to accomplish that end, only one of which involves a commitment to total extermination. Theresa May eluded to one of them, but I don’t believe that there is currently a government on this planet that is either principled enough or committed enough, or politically capable of any of those ways.
Maybe it’s not really a government’s problem to solve. What was that saying? Something about a people, or ideology, or process, which created a problem will never be the one to solve it.
